Amazon EC2 Reserved Instance pattern-based discovery

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated June 16, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Amazon EC2 Reserved Instance pattern-based discovery

    The Amazon EC2 Reserved Instance pattern-based discovery in ServiceNow enables automated identification and inventory of AWS Reserved Instances within your cloud environment. This discovery leverages the Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application to populate detailed data into both CMDB and non-CMDB tables, facilitating comprehensive asset visibility and management.

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    Key Features

    • Pattern Activation: The Reserved Instance discovery pattern is disabled by default and must be enabled. Activating or deactivating patterns no longer counts as customization, allowing seamless updates without losing activation status after upgrades.
    • AWS Discovery Prerequisites: Requires meeting AWS discovery prerequisites and ensuring relevant resources are not listed in the Resource Inclusion List table to prevent duplicate discovery.
    • GovCloud Support: Supports discovery in AWS GovCloud regions by configuring the discovery schedule with a datacenter URL linked to the AWS service account.
    • Data Population: Populates detailed Reserved Instance data into the CMDB, specifically in the cmdbawselasticcloudcomputereservedinstance and cmdbcivminstance tables, and into non-CMDB tables when using the Extended Inventory pattern.
    • Tag Collection: Discovers AWS tags associated with Reserved Instances and stores them in the cmdbkeyvalue table for enhanced metadata management.

    Data and Relationships

    • Reserved Instance Table: The cmdbawselasticcloudcomputereservedinstance table stores unique details such as ARN, instance name, state, instance type, and reservation scope.
    • Virtual Machine Instance Table: The cmdbcivminstance table holds core CI data including ARN, install and operational status, and resource description.
    • CI Relationships: The pattern establishes essential relationships linking Reserved Instances to Virtual Machine Instances and AWS Datacenters, supporting accurate configuration item mapping.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    By implementing this pattern-based discovery, customers can automate the tracking of EC2 Reserved Instances, improve cloud asset visibility, and maintain up-to-date CMDB records. This supports optimized cloud resource management, cost control through reserved capacity tracking, and enhanced governance of AWS environments.

    Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns finds AWS services on your cloud environment. Discovering some of these resources may require updating to the latest version of the Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application from the ServiceNow Store.

    Pattern-based discovery and mapping requirements

    Verify the AWS discovery prerequisites
    For more information, see the prerequisites section in Amazon AWS Cloud components discovery using patterns.
    Remove resources from the Resource Inclusion List table
    Verify that the relevant resource isn't listed in the Resource Inclusion List [sa_cloud_inventory_resource_whitelist] table to avoid duplicate discovery. For more information on removing resources from the Resource Inclusion List, see Amazon Web Services (AWS) Resource Inventory.
    Enable the relevant pattern
    The pattern for this service is disabled by default. Starting with Visibility Content version 6.28.0, activating or deactivating a pattern won't be considered a customization, and it will continue to receive updates. Patterns that were previously activated or deactivated will reset to the latest predefined version after upgrading while retaining the last active field value. For more information on enabling patterns, see Activate a disabled pattern.
    Configure the Discovery schedule to support GovCloud
    Discovering AWS GovCloud (US) accounts requires using a datacenter URL when setting up an AWS service account. For more information, see Create AWS service accounts.

    Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application populates data in both CMDB and non-CMDB tables.

    Data stored in non-CMDB tables

    Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application populates data in the non-CMDB table when running the Amazon AWS - Elastic Compute Cloud Reserved Instance - Extended Inventory (LP) pattern.

    You can review the non-CMDB AWS tables by navigating to All > Configuration > AWS. You can also search the navigation filter for the specific pattern name.

    Table 1. AWS Elastic Compute Cloud - Reserved Instance [cmdb_aws_elastic_cloud_compute_reserved_instance]
    Field Description
    Object Id [object_id] The Amazon Resource Name (ARN) uniquely identifying the Reserved Instance.

    The ARN consists of the region, account ID, and instance ID in the following format: arn:aws:ec2:<region>:<accountId>:reserved-instances/<instance_id>.
    Name [name] The unique identifier assigned to the EC2 instance.
    State [state] The current status or lifecycle state of the EC2 instance.
    Configuration Item [configuration_item] References the Virtual Machine Instance [cmdb_ci_vm_instance] table.
    Instance Type [instance_type] The type of EC2 instance. For example: t2.micro or m5.large.
    Scope [scope] The reservation scope. For example: Regional or Availability Zone.

    Data stored in CMDB tables

    Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application populates data in the CMDB when running the Amazon AWS - Elastic Compute Cloud Reserved Instance - Extended Inventory (LP) pattern.

    Table 2. Virtual Machine Instance [cmdb_ci_vm_instance]
    Field Description
    Object ID [object_id] The ARN uniquely identifying the Reserved Instance.

    The ARN consists of the region, account ID, and instance ID in the following format: arn:aws:ec2:<region>:<accountId>:reserved-instances/<instance_id>.
    Name [name] The unique identifier assigned to the EC2 instance.
    Install Status [install_status] Install status of the resource. Default value is Installed.
    Operational status [operational_status] Operational status of the resource. Default value is Operational.
    Description [short_description] Type of resource. The value is set to AWS::Elastic Compute Cloud::Reserved Instance.

    CI relationships

    The Amazon AWS - Elastic Compute Cloud Reserved Instance - Extended Inventory (LP) pattern creates these relationships to support Amazon EC2 Reserved Instance discovery.

    CI Relationship CI
    Virtual Machine Instance [cmdb_ci_vm_instance] Hosted on::Hosts AWS Datacenter [cmdb_ci_aws_datacenter]
    AWS Elastic Compute Cloud - Reserved Instance [cmdb_aws_elastic_cloud_compute_reserved_instance] References Virtual Machine Instance [cmdb_ci_vm_instance]

    AWS tag discovery

    The pattern collects tags and populates them in the Key Value [cmdb_key_value] table.
    Table 3. Key Value [cmdb_key_value]
    Field Description
    Key [key] Tag name.
    Value [value] Tag value.